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Open-cast coal mining and its associate activities are responsible for the generation of atmospheric particulate pollutants. An emission inventory technique has been employed to identify and quantify the sources of PM10 in Dhanbad/Jharia coalfield (JCF), India. Inventory of natural (mine fire) and anthropogenic (mining and non-mining) was considered to create actual database in the study area. It is a unique approach for a complex coal mining zone associated with mine fire in India. The multiple emission sources such as anthropogenic (open coal mining, industrial and local) and natural (coal mine fire) are responsible for the complexity in the study area. Gridding systems of 129 grids (2 km × 2 km each) were developed to build up a detailed database of sources/activities throughout the study area. The total 9409 kg/day emission load of PM10 was estimated during study period. Between all the sources, emission from the open-cast coal mining (19.97%), thermal power plant (18%), vehicles (16%), the paved/unpaved road (14%), domestic fuel burning (12%), open coal burning and mine fire (6%) and garbage burning (5%) were generated a significant amount of PM10 throughout the study area. Globally, this study could be guideline to identify and quantify the emission sources in the critically polluted coal mining complex for the developing and developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]